Man Pleads Guilty To Extorting Money From Grindr User With Girlfriend

A Melbourne man has admitted that he demanded another man he met on Grindr pay him $1300 in return for not telling the victim’s girlfriend.

Timothy Ruge allegedly demanded that the victim meet with him and hand over the money at Southern Cross station in the Docklands area in March this year, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard earlier this year.

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The 34-year-old (pictured) appeared in court on Wednesday and plead guilty to making an unwarranted demand for money with menaces, The Age reported.

According to court documents, the victim was using the gay hookup app “to chat and flirt” on March 2 this year when he selected Ruge’s profile.

Ruge allegedly responded with a photo of the victim’s fiancee, commenting, “She’s pretty, you cheating bastard.”

The victim apologised, but Ruge responded, “Cardless cash me $500 now, then $500 in 30 mins ARE WE CLEAR”, followed by “And I vanish,” the documents claim.

The victim said in a statement that the encounter had left him feeling “helpless and confused,” according to The Age.

“I went home feeling like shit. I was freaking out my missus was going to find out,” he said.

Ruge is on bail and will appear at the County Court in November for a plea hearing, ahead of his sentencing.

Last month, four Western Australian students were charged over the alleged scheme to lure older men to parks and mug them.

In September last year, a Canberra teenager was jailed for nine months for participating in a scam that involved meeting men from Grindr and threatening to accuse them of being paedophiles if they did not pay money.

In January, a judge cleared Grindr of malicious harassment charges after a Grindr user’s ex-boyfriend impersonated him and allegedly invited hundreds of men to his house and workplace expecting sex.